I Will Miss You
by whitetiger91
Summary: Regulus and Sirius: brothers forever. Exploding Snap players and secret-code makers, what could possibly tear these two young siblings apart?


**I Will Miss You**

 _ **A/N: This fic was written for the lovely Karana the Firebender as a belated birthday present. Happy birthday, Karana! Thanks for being a fantastic member of The Golden Snitch.**_

 _ **This fic will be beta'd shortly. Inspiration was drawn from what I used to do with my sister: our code was a little harder to decipher and we ended up giving up on it, but at the time we felt very naughty and secretive haha. I also became very irrational myself when I was still in preschool and my sister went off to primary 'big' school, but it got better when she brought home her lunchbox with some food still inside for me.**_

 _ **I hope you enjoy this, and if anyone reading finds any SPaG or flow issues, please let me know :) Xx**_

* * *

 _Knock. Knock. Tap. Knock-Knock-Knock. Tap. Tap._

Sirius pressed his ear against the wall, listening carefully to the series of soft knocks and taps. Sure he had heard correctly, he curled up his fist and knocked four times: 'Ok. My room, now."

Jumping off his bed, he pushed his packed trunk away from his bed, fishing inside it for a deck of Exploding Snap cards. He found them just as his bedroom door creaked open, and in slipped his brother.

"Finally, I thought she'd never go to sleep," Regulus whispered as he shut the door.

Sirius grinned at him. "I'm surprised; our dear mother needs as much beauty sleep as she can get."

"Shh! She could hear you, Sirius; you mustn't say things like that."

Sirius shrugged. Hopping back onto his bed, he crossed his legs and began shuffling the cards. "C'mon, do you want to play or not? This deck is pretty old, so I don't want and of the cards to explode before we can even play," Sirius said, patting the space in front of him. When he saw that Regulus' eyes had widened, he added, "Oh, don't worry, git. Without using wands, the explosions won't be loud enough to wake mother… unfortunately."

Regulus rolled his eyes and skipped over to the bed. Sitting down gently, he folded his legs underneath him and waited for Sirius to deal the cards.

Sirius chuckled to himself as he did so, making note of the way Regulus' eyes never left the pile, most likely trying to make sure his brother wasn't trying to cheat. When Regulus glanced up, Sirius winked at him, causing his brother to look away, his cheeks turning red.

"So… it looks like you're all packed then," Regulus said when the cards were all divvied up between them.

Sirius looked to his trunk before turning to his brother, his grin wide. "Yup. 11:00 am tomorrow cannot come soon enough!"

Regulus gave a half laugh, and if Sirius didn't know better, he would have said it sounded forced. Still, as the game started, his brother relaxed and a more natural-looking smile lit up his youthful features.

"Snap!"

"Missed!"

Sirius had taught Regulus all he knew about the game over the six years they had been playing, and now, it seemed his baby brother was finally catching up to his level of skill. Regulus had even managed to pick up a few things about Bavarian Rules snap. Slapping a card featuring Barnabus the Barmy's picture on it, Sirius wasn't the least bit surprised when his brother slapped an identical card on top. The pile of cards trembled before flying into the air with a small _bang!_ Tiny pieces of card drifted to the quilt.

"I win!" he said.

Sirius smiled, gathering up the cards that had repaired themselves. Shuffling them around, he began to deal them out again. When he looked up at Regulus, however, he noticed that the boy was staring at Sirius' trunk, any trace of his laugh gone.

"What's wrong?" Sirius asked.

"I can't believe you are actually going. This will be the last card game."

Sirius' smile widened. Chuckling, he said, "Of course I'm going; I can't wait to get away! Plus, I'll be able to play Exploding Snap with whoever I make friends with."

Regulus was silent for a moment. He flicked through his pile of cards, taking extra time to put them into some semblance of order.

"Well, won't there be anything you miss?"

Sirius shrugged. What was his brother going on about? Had he not grown up in the same household—a household with a cranky old bat of a mother, house elves that liked to spy, and a father whose only 'parenting' was taking out his wand when the boys did something wrong?

Laughing it off, Sirius said, "Yeah, I might miss Kreacher."

Regulus sighed. "Whatever."

"Maybe there'll be other ill-tempered elves I can mess with at Hogwarts," Sirius said.

"This isn't a joke!" Regulus said, his voice an angry whisper. Throwing the cards to the bed, he jumped off. "I never thought you'd actually go."

The boy turned away, his fists curled by his sides. Regulus' shoulders heaved up and down, and if Sirius didn't know any better, he'd have thought he was on the verge of tears. Nevertheless, he knew it was just like Regulus to try and ruin something going well for Sirius, and make it all about him.

"What do you expect me to do? Stay? That is not an option."

Regulus spun around, his dark eyes flashing. "There's no harm in staying here another year, then we could go together. Or do home-schooling, or… or…"

"You're being illogical right now," Sirius said. "I've got my acceptance letter, I've my school equipment, I've got my robes, I've got my train ticket; I'm going to Hogwarts."

Regulus opened his mouth to say something but abruptly closed it. He looked down at his feet, before meeting Sirius' gaze. Swallowing, he said, "Fine, leave then. I'm glad you're going!" Then, spinning on his foot, he opened the door and ran from the room.

Sirius huffed; Regulus was being over-dramatic, as usual. Flopping back onto his bed, he gathered up the cards Regulus had thrown about. Twisting around to the wall, he knocked out a message:

 _Knock, knock. Tap-tap-tap-tap, knock-knock, tap:_ C'mon, let's finish the game.

He shuffled the cards, waiting for a response. When no answer came, he rolled his eyes. Tossing the cards onto the floor, he pulled down his sheets and laid down. If this is what his brother was going to be like, then he really couldn't wait to go to Hogwarts.

Closing his eyes, Sirius tried to fall asleep. Every night that week, he had gone over everything he had hoped to do at Hogwarts. He had dreamt about riding the Giant Squid that was rumoured to live in the school's lake, using his wand to hex his cousin Bellatrix when she wasn't looking, perhaps even joining his house's Quidditch team.

Tonight, however, none of his usual sleep-inducing tactics worked. All he could think about was his brother's irrational anger. What was his problem? Sirius would be back for the holidays, and before he knew it, Regulus' own acceptance letter would come. They'd only be apart for a few months at a time, or a year if Sirius got into too much trouble and their mother refused to have him home for the holidays.

Sighing, Sirius opened his eyes. A year was a long time.

Turning onto his side, Sirius stared at the wall. Curling his fist up, he knocked out a message.

 _Knock. Knock. Tap_ : I will miss you.

Silence came in response, and after a few minutes, he huffed and rolled back onto his back. Closing his eyes, he tried once more to sleep.

 _Knock. Knock. Tap-tap_ : I will miss you, too.

With a smile, Sirius yawned and drifted off to sleep. All would be right.


End file.
